Festival of the Arts

The school district had an art festival over the weekend and Kimball had a piece of art displayed.  I didn't realize it would be such a big event but the High School was full of people.  In addition to the art displays various orchestra classes performed as well as the Winter Guard.  Here was Kimball's art piece; it was a warm and cool color weave.

Six Months Old

The babies turned 6 months old last week.  The time just flies by so quickly.  The babies went to the doctor today and they are doing really well.  Here is a short update on each of them.

Annika is my bitty girl weighing only 13 lbs and measuring 25 1/2 inches in length.  She is in the 5th percentile for her weight.  She may be small but she is fiesty.  You definitely know if she is mad because she lets it be known.  She popped her first two teeth this month.  I wasn't expecting them so I'm not exactly sure when her first one poked through.  She is also doing really well at sitting independently and will sit for at least 20 minutes unassisted.  She still gets up once in the night, but that isn't too bad, especially if Joseph is getting up with her.  She is doing well with solid food, but I wouldn't say she is eager about eating from a spoon.  I didn't get a great smile out of her for her pictures, but she is still pretty cute.

 


Lincoln seems so much bigger than Annika.  Joseph and I were both really surprised at the doctor today when he only weighed 14 lbs 12 oz.  We were expecting him to be about 16 pounds.  I guess at their small size even a 1 lb 12 oz is a lot so he seemed a lot bigger.  He is broader than Anniks which is better than the other way around!  He is 26 inches in length so just a little taller.  Lincoln is still a Mama's boy and it really frustrates Kimball that I can pick up Lincoln and he instantly stops crying. Kimball wants that magic touch, but doesn't have it, yet.  We keep telling Kimball that within a few years Lincoln will follow Kimball around constantly and want to be just like his big brother.  Lincoln has gone from 3 feedings at night to just one and I feel like a new woman.  It is so nice to just get up once at night.  Lincoln is sitting unassisted, but he isn't as stable as Annika.  No teeth for Lincoln yet, but that is just fine with me.  As with Annika, he doesn't have much interest in food from a spoon, but he will slowly eat his food.

 

I can finally say that I have the babies on a semi-fixed schedule and it is great!  They finally nap at the same time in the morning.  They sleep anywhere from an hour and a half to 3 hours.  They don't always wake up at the same time, but I usually have a good chunk of time where I can actually get more things accomplished.  Having them sleep at the same time has been very liberating because I feel like I can carry on a more normal routine for myself.  I cringe on the days when I have to run errands or make visits and they don't have their morning and afternoon naps.  Such is life.

Sisters, Sisters

During the Christmas season Rebecah and I watched White Christmas together and Rebecah fell in love with the "Sisters" song.  She sings it regularly.  She is a good big sister and loves Annika. Rebecah is very excited every time Annika wears an outfit that Rebecah wore as a baby.  As Rebecah's dresses get too small she saves them for Annika.  She recently gave Annika her Minnie Mouse nightgown and she was thrilled when Joseph put the nightgown over Annika's sleeper.  Here are some pictures of my girls wearing the same dress.  Can you tell who is who?






Did you get it right?  The first picture is Rebecah (4 months) and the second picture is Annika (almost 6 months).  These next two pictures are both Annika.  I just love her little facial expressions.


 

My favorite girls!

Rebecah at 4 months.

April 6th, Fayette, NY

For Family Home Evening we decided to take a trip to Fayette, New York to visit the Peter Whitmer, Sr. Farm to see where the church was organized.  It was a little overcast, but it was a fun adventure for us.  The Whitmer farm is about 45 minutes from Palmyra so this was only our second visit since moving here.  The visitor's center has been updated since we were last there so it was nice to see how things had changed.

Kimball and Rebecah with the Whitmer cabin in the background.

Whitmer Cabin

View from inside.

Our entire family.

Upstairs:  looking at a replica of the Book of Mormon

Inside the Visitor's Center using the computers to herd sheep, churn butter, gather eggs, and plant and harvest crops.

Our outing was a fun way to commemorate 185 years since the church was organized at the Whitmer Farm. 

Easter 2015

Easter seemed to sneak up on me like most things do these days.  We still managed to do some fun Easter activities.  My favorite activity that we did was talk each night during our scripture reading about what happened the last week of Christ's life.  The kids eagerly anticipated scripture reading each night.

The kids helped fill their eggs with candy this year.  I know that is rather anti-climatic, but they thought it was exciting and it helped me out.  We had an assembly line to make it fun.

Here we are dying eggs.  I love the vibrant colors even though I'm not a hard boiled egg fan.

Since the babies don't get candy this year I decided to buy them their first stuffed animals.  It seemed like Kimball and Rebecah were given a lot of animals and they acquired a lot without even trying.  These babies didn't have any so I was able to pick out the animals I liked best.  As my family knows, I'm partial to teddy bears, so that was my first choice, but I did find a cute lion that was Joseph's vote for Lincoln.  So, Lincoln has a lion and Annika a teddy bear.

Lincoln was pretty mellow as we took pictures with his lion.  He just sat and snuggled with his lion.

Annika was rather wiggly while we were trying to take her pictures.  She was all about hugging and trying to taste her bear.

Rebecah loses a Tooth

Rebecah lost her first tooth on Easter.  She told me just three days prior that it was loose.  She was always wiggling her tooth, but when it came time to pull it out she was nervous.  She wanted me to help her pull it, but when she got scared she brushed my hand away and knocked her tooth out.  Her fears were soon replaced with great excitement.  She has another tooth loose so it won't be long before her second is out.

10th Anniversary

Joseph and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary at the end of March.  Our original plan 3 years ago for our 10th was to take a trip to Europe, but then we had the babies.  I wasn't about to go on a "fun" trip with two babies.  They are so much work at home that I knew it would be even more work on a vacation.  Instead, we celebrated with our traditional dinner...egg rolls and a raspberry white chocolate cheesecake.  We also bought bedroom furniture since we had been using a dresser from Walmart since we got married.  To round things out Joseph got a picture he really wanted while I got a new ring.  About a year ago mine fell off and was ground up in the disposer.  I was ready for a new one.  We took this picture on our anniversary.  I think we still look pretty good. 

 

Pay no mind to the girl in the mirror!